


Family Shelter Joy

by PattRose



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Easter, Gen, Heartwarming, Sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 12:31:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10741761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PattRose/pseuds/PattRose
Summary: Jim and Blair are involved in an Easter charity for homeless families that need help getting on their feet.Happy Birthday, Bluewolf.  (A little late.)





	Family Shelter Joy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bluewolf458](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/gifts).



Family Shelter Joy  
By PattRose  
Summary: Jim and Blair are involved in an Easter charity for homeless families that need help getting on their feet.   
Warnings: None  
Genre: Gen  
Rating: Gen  
Word Count: 1975  
A/N: This is for Bluewolf for her Birthday. Happy Birthday, sweetie. Sorry I’m so late. This is more or less how mine worked out too, Sheila. 

When Simon had told Jim about the Greyhound Family Shelter, Jim had no idea that he and Blair would become so involved in helping these people out. He couldn’t wait to tell Blair that they were taking care of four of the families in their bungalows. It was a wonderful place that helped them transition from homeless to back to work and in an apartment once more. Each of their families had two children, so Jim knew Blair would have a lot of fun building Easter baskets for all of them. 

When Jim had told Blair about it, he was thrilled to be included in the group. Megan had two boxes, Rhonda had two, Rafe had two, along with Brown and Joel. Jim was in charge of two bungalows and Blair in charge of two. But Simon took on four, since he had Daryl to help him build the boxes. 

Six weeks before Easter, Simon called everyone over to his house for a meeting. Once everyone was seated, he said, “I want to know if anyone has any ideas on what we could put all the food and Easter items in to take to the families. Small boxes won’t cut it. Anyone?”

Blair stood up happily and said, “I have a perfect idea, Simon. At the grocery store, you know those sturdy boxes the banana’s come in? We could double them up, decorate and have a new place for their goodies. In fact, we could take a plastic pastel colored table cloth and fold it around the box and tape it down so that it is completely covered. Then you have an Easter Box. And I think that we should get plastic plates for the families so that they’ll have something to take with them to their new apartment when they leave the shelter. I’m going to put coffee cups, instant coffee, plastic cups for the kids and Kool-Aid for each of the boxes so the kids have something to drink besides nasty water. And we all know that water in that neck of the woods is nasty. We’re going to even get silverware for our families. Does anyone else have any ideas for the boxes?” 

Megan was getting into this now. “I think we should buy some canned vegetables and fruit for each family. Enough for one or two meals. That would go along nicely with the ham and mashed potatoes. Anyone else with good ideas?” Megan asked, hopefully. 

Rhonda said, “I think we need dessert for each box. I’m going to make brownies. But I’m not putting nuts in them because a lot of people don’t like nuts. Does this sound good to anyone else?”

Henri said, “I’m going to make brownies too. I’m taking notes. These boxes are going to take a while to get done, but they are going to be worth the wait.”

“I think we need to have Chocolate bunnies for the children and their parents. Do we know if they have both parents?” Joel asked. 

Simon stood up and said, “I have a list of each of your bungalows and how many adults and children. I’ll make a copy for each of you. Should we also make a copy of all the ideas for what to fill the boxes with?”

Blair nodded and answered, “That’s a good idea, but we’ll wait until we’re all done discussing everything. That way no one will be left out. What do you all think about stuffed animals for the younger children and backpacks for the older ones with some school items inside of it?”

Rafe finally said, “I like that idea, Blair. I went to a seminar once that said these homeless children have little to hold on to, so a stuffed animal is sometimes exactly what they need. And the same thing with backpacks. They don’t have much, they can put all their things inside of them and walk around. I think even the little children need backpacks. What do you think about giving one to the moms and dads too?”

Jim smiled at how into this they were all getting. “I agree with Rafe. Chief, are you writing all this down?”

“But of course I am. This is going to be the best Easter ever,” Blair added. 

Daryl stood up and said, “You all forgot one very important thing. Colored Easter eggs for the families. They can eat them however they wish to. I happen to love egg salad sandwiches. Dad, I can’t believe you didn’t think of this.”

Simon said, “It takes a young mind to think of certain things sometimes. A dozen eggs for each bungalow should be enough, don’t you think?”

“Oh, I think that’s plenty with all the other food we’re going to have along with it,” Blair agreed. 

Megan stood up and said, “I just thought of something. We need those disposable salt and pepper shakers. They might not have salt. You can’t have hard boiled eggs without salt. Am I right?”

Rhonda snickered. “I’m adding it to the list right now, Megan. Great idea.”

Blair walked over to Rhonda and said, “Here are my notes if you want to put them all together and print up for each of us.”

Jim called out, “Don’t forget the aluminum pans and foil for the ham. It won’t be that fancy looking, but they’ll have enough food for at least two nights. It’s so great that they all have ovens and refrigerators. What about the mashed potatoes? Do we need pans for them too and what about gravy?”

Megan smiled at her friend. “Yeah, we need canned gravy. They can open them and heat it up at their place. Do we need can openers?”

Rhonda said, “Canned gravy is added as well as containers for the mashed potatoes and gravy. Are we going to have room in the boxes for all of this?”

Jim started laughing and then everyone else did too. Jim replied, “We’ll have plenty of room for their things.”

Daryl stood up all excited and said, “I just remembered that we need to get plastic eggs and fill them with little candies. The kids will love them. Should we go ahead and get Easter baskets for each box too?”

Simon thought that over for a moment and said, “Yes, add Easter baskets to the list, Rhonda. And thank you for making the list up for us that can’t remember anything.”

They all started talking to each other about how they were going to do everything and Simon and Jim walked into the kitchen. Simon whispered, “This is going to be the best Easter ever. What do you think about doing this again for new families for Christmas?”

“I love the idea, Simon. We’re all going to have a blast. And then being able to deliver them to the bungalows is going to be even better. Blair and I can’t wait to see the look on the kids’ faces. We’re all off that day, right?”

“Yeah, Jim, we’re all off. I worked it out special for this. Now let’s go join everyone else before they think we fell asleep in here.”

Rhonda was passing around the Easter list for them all and then handed out the copies of their bungalows and who was in them. 

Everyone left shortly after that and Blair assured Simon that he would come over and help him decorate the banana boxes.

*

On the drive home, Blair was bouncing with excitement. “Do you think we’re going to get all this done in six weeks?”

“Blair, if we can’t, we’re got problems. Six weeks is plenty of time. Not to worry. But our boxes are going to be the best. You and I can go shopping this weekend and get everything we need, including the banana boxes.”

“Oh that’s a good idea, Jim. Then we can get everything ready in them except for the cooked food. What day are we delivering again?”

“The Saturday before Easter at 10:00. Everyone in the shelter has been notified and will home to accept their boxes of goodies.”

Blair was so thrilled he was practically humming with excitement. “Man, I can’t wait to start this stuff.”

“Me too, Chief.”

*

The following weekend Jim and Blair picked up the extra banana boxes and took them with the pastel tablecloths over to Simon’s house.

Simon opened his door as soon as he saw them walking up the sidewalk. “Here, Blair, let me take these two boxes from you.”

“Thanks, Simon. I brought the masking tape and the pastel tablecloths to decorate them with.”

Blair cleaned the first box out and started doing his thing. He doubled the tablecloth and set the box on top of it and put the edges on the inside of the box. That’s when Blair taped it down on the bottom, with the masking tape, so it would stay put and look nice. The masking tape was a bright blue and he put it around the edges of the top, so it looked a little dolled up. Once he was done, he said, “Okay, your turn, guys.”

Both men didn’t want to be outdone by Blair, so they got their boxes decorated in no time at all. 

“You know, Blair when you were talking about using the plastic tablecloths for covering the boxes, I thought you were nuts. But it looks great,” Simon said, with much admiration. 

“Well, there are your four all done. We need to go and do ours next. The time is going quickly. Before you know it we’re going to be delivering them,” Jim admitted.

*

The following Monday, Blair took one of their boxes in, so everyone could see the finished look. Everyone was so excited to see how nice they turned out. Then Henri asked if Blair could come and show him how to do it so it looked like this one. And of course, Blair ended up saying if they brought their boxes to work the next day with all the things that were needed, he would show them how to do it during breaks.

*

**The Big Day**

Everyone was meeting Simon’s first on Saturday. He knew the way, the rest of them didn’t. 

Simon barked, “Get the lead out. It’s time to go. Everyone has their boxes, right?”

Everyone yelled, “Yes, Dad.”

They all followed Simon and drove up to a very nicely kept piece of property. The families were all out in front of their doors waiting. 

Everyone parked and started carrying things in. On each box was a tag saying which unit it went to. There were no mix-ups. The kids were hugging everyone and thanking them. The parents all had tears in their eyes and hugged the members of Major Crimes too. 

They hung out with the families for about two hours and then left them to enjoy their goodies.

*

“Dad, I think everyone was very happy,” Daryl pointed out. 

“I’m so proud of all of you. You did a wonderful job of making their lives more bearable. Thank you for helping, son.”

“I had a blast, Dad. And playing basketball with the teens at the end was fantastic. They all seemed to have a good time.”

“We all decided to do this at Christmas too. Are you game, again?” Simon wondered. 

“Oh yeah. I can’t wait to see big tough Jim Ellison get tears in his eyes again. He’s an old softie.”

“We all are son, we all are.”

The end


End file.
